Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) crashed out of the Giro d’Italia during the final kilometres of stage 5 to Cattolica after a rider hit a race marshal signalling some traffic furniture in the middle of the road. His team confirmed late Wednesday that he had suffered a broken collarbone.
“In the final kilometres of the race, Mikel Landa was taken down in a crash involving three other riders after a collision at a traffic island," Bahrain Victorious announced. "Landa has been taken to Riccione Hospital, where he is receiving treatment for a broken collarbone and multiple ribs on his left side."
Landa will remain in the hospital under observation and undergo further tests.
"Landa remained conscious throughout and is in good spirits to get back on the bike as soon as possible," the team said.
The USA’s Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates), leader of the mountains classification, also crashed but was able to eventually ride slowly to the finish 8:15 behind winner Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal).
Francois Bidard (AG2R Citroën) crashed along with Landa but finished the stage eight minutes down. His team later confirmed that he had fractured his left clavicle, with the Frenchman forced to leave the race as a result.
Landa, however, was unable to get up. He was quickly reached by medical staff, with Italian television suggesting he had hurt his shoulder. He was eventually placed into an ambulance and taken to a local hospital.
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“He was in pain, we’re not sure if he has fractured his collarbone or his wrist,” Bahrain Victorious directeur sportif Franco Pellizotti said.
“Mikel was our team leader and he was here to try to win the Giro. We’ll race on and we’ve still got Pello Bilbao and Damiano Caruso.”
The crash was one of three incidents in the final 20km, with Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) coming to grief along a kerb and giving up all his GC ambitions, finishing 13:08 down.
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
